With tech salaries nearly flat, frustration rises: survey

2 Min Read

NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - U.S. technology professionals are more frustrated with their pay than they have been in years as their salaries stagnate, according to an annual survey of about 17,000 visitors to the Dice.com website.

Dice Holdings Inc (DHX.N), a career site for technology and engineering professionals, found the average pay for U.S. tech jobs rose 1 percent last year to $78,845, compared to a 4.6 percent pay increase the year before.

That modest increase is fueling dissatisfaction. Only 46 percent said they are satisfied with the pay, compared to at least 53 percent who said so in each of the previous three years. About half the workers say employers are doing nothing to keep them motivated, according to the survey, and more than three-quarters say they received no bonus in 2009.

The results suggest employers may have a hard time keeping their technology staff, leading to a “retentionless recovery,” said Tom Silver, Dice’s senior vice president in North America.

“The new war for technology talent is coming and the battle is retention,” he said.

Workers in California’s Silicon Valley do a little better than their peers elsewhere in the United States. The average tech salary there was $96,299. In Washington DC, where salaries are rising faster than the national average, information technology (IT) professionals earned more than $89,000 a year.